Thomas Glynn Flynt v. State of Mississippi, 183 So. 3d 1

On April 11, 2009, Tommy Flynt and family got into a physical altercation at his auto shop after his daughter Krystal and her girlfriend Teresa Groover arrived; Teresa and Tommy struggled repeatedly, including choking and pinning.
Tommy had a loaded .38 revolver in his office; Teresa was shot in Tommy’s office and died two days later from an abdominal gunshot wound with close-range stippling.
Multiple witnesses gave conflicting accounts; no eyewitness saw Tommy fire the shot, but officers found Tommy with his hands on the gun when they arrived, and gunshot residue was on both sides of both of Tommy’s hands.
The State’s theory: Tommy loaded his gun in the office and intentionally shot Teresa; defense asserted self-defense and invoked the Castle Doctrine.
Tommy was indicted for murder (2009); tried in October 2013 and convicted of manslaughter; post-trial motions for JNOV and new trial were denied and Flynt appealed.

Issue	Flynt's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence to support manslaughter	Evidence was legally insufficient; no one saw him pull the trigger; conflicting testimony	Circumstantial and forensic evidence (GSR on hands, bullet from his gun, his hands on gun, officer statements) permits a rational jury to find manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt	Denied — evidence sufficient; JNOV properly denied
Weight of the evidence / new trial	Verdict against overwhelming weight; witness contradictions undermine conviction	Credibility and factual conflicts are for the jury; evidence does not preponderate heavily against verdict	Denied — no unconscionable injustice, jury credibility determinations upheld
Adequacy of jury consideration of self-defense and Castle Doctrine	Jury could not have fully considered self-defense / Castle Doctrine	Jury received instructions on self-defense and Castle Doctrine and is presumed to follow them	Denied — jury presumed to have considered instructions and rejected necessary self-defense claim
Speedy-trial violation (raised only in dissent)	Excessive delay (1,483 days), government negligence, destroyed/missing evidence impaired defense — constitutional violation	Issue not raised below or on appeal; procedurally barred; plain-error review discretionary	Majority: not considered (procedurally barred). Dissent: would find Barker violation and reverse

Beasley v. State, 136 So.3d 393 (Miss. 2014) (standards for JNOV/new-trial review)
Bush v. State, 895 So.2d 836 (Miss. 2005) (view evidence in light most favorable to verdict)
Edwards v. State, 469 So.2d 68 (Miss. 1985) (reasonable fair-minded jurors standard)
Booker v. State, 64 So.3d 965 (Miss. 2011) (manslaughter statutory alternatives: cruel manner or deadly weapon)
Byrd v. State, 158 So.3d 1146 (Miss. 2015) (sufficiency-of-evidence standard quote)
Gray v. State, 728 So.2d 36 (Miss. 1998) (presumption that jurors follow instructions)
Chase v. State, 645 So.2d 829 (Miss. 1994) (same principle on jury instructions)
Newell v. State, 49 So.3d 66 (Miss. 2010) (Castle Doctrine explanation and statutory framing)
Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (U.S. 1972) (four-part speedy-trial balancing test)
Doggett v. United States, 505 U.S. 647 (U.S. 1992) (presumption of prejudice increases with delay; lost-evidence prejudice)
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (U.S. 1963) (prosecution obligation to preserve/disclose evidence material to guilt or punishment)